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xiashtra 03d949abaf 7.45 follow-up (#99)
* Update cn

* 7.45 follow-up
2026-03-03 21:04:14 -06:00

13 KiB

10TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_SEQ_00Theopauldin is chatting animatedly with a gleaner.
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2524TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_TODO_00Speak with the relaxing researcher in Sharlayan Hamlet.
2625TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_TODO_01Speak with Theopauldin.
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4948TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_000Pray see that it is done. Thank you for your unwavering service.
5049TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_001...Oh! Thaliak be good, I didn't see you there.
5150TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_002I trust you have been well? And the twins?
5251TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_003...Er, perhaps I should reintroduce myself. Our first meeting was passing brief, after all.
5352TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_004My name is Theopauldin, and I oversee the researchers in Labyrinthos.
5453TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_005During the Final Days, you and the Leveilleur children assisted me in exchange for stories about their mother and father. Although, I'm sure the issue of the aetherburner weighed heavier on *your* mind than personal anecdotes at the time.
5554TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_006You Scions truly managed to do the impossible. Our star owes you its salvation.
5655TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_007Moreover, your spectacular voyage through the great expanse has driven our researchers to pursue greater heights of development and innovation.
5756TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_Q1_000_008What will you say?
5857TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_A1_000_009...We don't have another apocalypse scheduled, do we?
5958TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_A1_000_010Oh, are you building more toy boats─er, starfaring vessels?
6059TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_100_010Not so far as I'm aware! No, for a blessing, what we currently concern ourselves with in Labyrinthos is far less dire.
6160TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_011While I can't deny *something* of the sort, the scope of our current work extends far beyond interstellar travel.
6261TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_012Would you care to join me below? You can see for yourself what our researchers have been busying themselves with these days.
6362TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_013Our gleaners have just delivered some missives that I must distribute, and I would be greatly honored by your company.
6463TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_014Marvelous. I have no doubt your presence will brighten many a day.
6564TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_015In that case, where might we begin...
6665TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_016Ah, yes! Why don't we pay Margrat a visit first? Quite gregarious, that one. Always eager to share her opinions.
6766TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_017Her laboratory is on the eastern side of Sharlayan Hamlet, so let us be off.
6867TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_020This is the place. Let's see if she's in.
6968TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_RESEARCHER04815_000_030Can I help you with something?
7069TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_031Yes, in fact. My apologies for intruding upon your break, but is Margrat available for a chat?
7170TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_RESEARCHER04815_000_032Oh, er... No, she, er... Left for Thesauros, I think.
7271TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_RESEARCHER04815_000_033She mentioned something about a request...or getting something off her chest, I couldn't say for sure...
7372TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_034Thesauros is a collective that oversees the allocation of research materiel, so naturally they have a branch here in Sharlayan Hamlet.
7473TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_035From quills to guildship commissions, Thesauros is a one-stop provider of countless invaluable services. They are committed to ensuring our researchers have what they need to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
7574TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_036I am sure Margrat will be kind enough to expound upon their offerings in *exhausting* detail when we find her. It's the building just across the plaza.
7675TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_RESEARCHER04815_000_040Well, this doesn't bode well... Godsspeed, Margrat...
7776TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_050Here we are. I assume we'll find Margrat with our receptionist.
7877TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_051...That I should have to *explain* is an affront to common sense, but our development of Labyrinthos's infrastructure has been *painstakingly* rational, as befits this intellectual community.
7978TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_052We have *never* shirked our duty to share the returns of our research, be they informational or monetary, and Aporia's ledgers can surely attest to the equitable distribution of such dividends.
8079TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_053Since this *rational* system is designed to create a self-sustaining cycle of funding for our research, it is only *logical* to conclude that nothing is rotten in the state of Sharlayan Hamlet.
8180TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_054But do you know what *is* rotten, Hodge? What is hastening our decay, body and soul?
8281TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_055The godsdamned *chairs*, Hodge! The blank, soulless walls! The complete inability to requisition anything deemed “irrelevant” to our research despite the *abundant* benefits they may provide─the sustainment of the *sanity* and well-being of us researchers!
8382TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_056Tell me, is the mighty Labyrinthos bereft of wealth or *compassion*? I'd like to know, Hodge!
8483TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_057...When I said she was eager to share her opinions, I confess this was not what I had in mind. Margrat, would you kindly stop berating Hodge for doing his job?
8584TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_058B-Berating? No, I'm...I am merely submitting a request for answers regarding systemic failures whilst offering my assessment of the situation. But now that you're here, sir, perhaps you can use your authority to remedy this latest injustice!
8685TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_059Would that I could, Margrat. Sadly, our resources have their limits, but I assure you that our associates at Thesauros will continue to make every effort to ensure each request receives due consideration.
8786TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_060Furthermore, in light of the correspondence I just received from your collaborators, you have more pressing matters to attend to. They say, and I quote:
8887TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_061"We appreciate your concerns regarding the current schedule. Nevertheless, we wish to proceed according to initially scheduled projections. Respectfully yours, etc.“
8988TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_062Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Why!? Why does this *always* happen!?
9089TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_063What about the word “impossible” is so difficult to comprehend!? Do they think we're exaggerating!? Or is the air too thin at the mountaintops of *privilege* from which our superiors deign to issue commandments!?
9190TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_064Why is it that when we dare to hope that perhaps this time, *this* time it will be different─it always ends in the same catastrophe of unlearned lessons!?
9291TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_065Do it again, but *faster*! Sacrifice health, hygiene, and personal happiness as you feed the furnace, its hunger for your labor insatiable! O minion, render up your everything on the altar of glorious progress!
9392TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_066Oh, I can't stand it anymore... Take my life, my liberty, just leave me my fluffy bed! I've only just remembered its gentle caress... <sob>
9493TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_067But no! After ripping us from the bosom of what meager comforts our servitude affords, they now expect us to bruise our buttocks upon chairs harder than the heads of the whole Forum combined!
9594TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_068Upon the slags that greedy gil-pinchers refuse to replace on the grounds they are not *essential* for our work, despite the cries of our lower backs for succor, mournful and ceaseless and distracting, stifling genius and innovation...!
9695TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_Q2_000_069What will you say?
9796TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_A2_000_070Er...can I help somehow?
9897TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_A2_000_071I swear to you, here and now, that I will make you a new chair if you stop talking.
9998TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_072Wait a moment... I've seen you somewhere before...
10099TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_073Aether tanks! That's right, aether tanks, I remember!
101100TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_074...Truly, you wish to help? Because even if I am more indebted to you than you to me, I am prepared to impose upon your goodwill if it will yield us even an onze of respite.
102101TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_075Tell me, are you an artisan? An aspiring gleaner? Someone willing to do what it takes?
103102TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_076...Wait, you'd *make* me a chair? So in other words, you're an artisan!?
104103TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_077And a humorist too, I see. Your jest is most welcome in these trying times. I doubt I was half the help to you as you would be to me, but I am prepared to impose upon your goodwill if it will yield us even an onze of respite. May I?
105104TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_078Oh, I knew it! You exude a kindness that other people in our immediate vicinity decidedly lack!
106105TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_079I'll get straight to the point: our bums are sore and our backs are curled like finger shrimp. Anything to help alleviate our pains would be greatly appreciated. Cushions, massage instruments, herbal supplements, *anything*.
107106TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_080Oh, and should you fear that a surplus of generosity might go to waste, know there is no shortage of achy researchers in my laboratory, so all donations will be put to good use.
108107TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_081Rest assured you *will* be compensated with more than our glowing gratitude, too! You adventuring types like those colorful scrips, don't you? Well, I have a veritable tonze of them left over from an old project, so they are yours should they bring you joy.
109108TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_082...While your gesture humbles us, I would hate to think Margrat is pressuring you with her, er, *overzealousness*. Are you sure this arrangement would not be an imposition?
110109TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_083Well, it's your prerogative, and I am sure your efforts will be appreciated by all.
111110TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_084Hodge, coordinate with the distributors of Margrat's scrips so we may establish a provisional exchange in these offices for our new partner's convenience.
112111TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_HODGE_000_085...Understood.
113112TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_100_085R'dhyanki at the far desk will see that you are furnished with whatever supplies you require. Do not hesitate to make use of her services.
114113TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_086I have other missives in need of delivery, so I shall leave you to it, but please...take care not to overexert yourself.
115114TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_THEOPAULDIN_000_087Be advised that I will hold *you* responsible if she does!
116115TEXT_SUBCTS605_04815_MARGRAT_000_088Right! To avoid Theopauldin's wrath, why don't we start with three items or so? Your best materiel for backaches in exchange for my colorful scrips. I look forward to seeing what you deliver!